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News From The
Past

The Los
Angeles TimesFebruary 9, 2000

34
years later, man gets Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam

by Paul Richter
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON - The nation bestowed
its highest military honor on a Mexican-American veteran who was not a citizen
when he threw his body over three fellow soldiers to protect them in Vietnam.

In a White House ceremony
yesterday, 34 years after the fact, former medic Alfred Rascon was awarded the
Medal of Honor and saluted by President Clinton for "a rare quality of
heroism" displayed in deeds that kept enemy troops from wiping out his
platoon.

The nomination of Rascon was
held up for years by mishandled paperwork and then high-level Pentagon
resistance. It was approved in May, after a seven-year crusade by platoon
members and other advocates.

"This man gave everything
he had, utterly and selflessly," Clinton said in a ceremony attended by
top military officials, other veterans of the 173rd Airborne Brigade and
Rascon's family.

Clinton cited Rascon's comment
that he had enlisted because he had "wanted to give back something"
to his new country. Clinton said this was an example of the military
contributions by immigrants, who number 60,000 in the armed forces.

Yet Rascon, 54, now a Maryland
resident and inspector general of the U.S. Selective Service System, played
down his achievement. "The honor is not really mine," said Rascon.
"It ends up being (the honor of) those who were with me that day."

Rascon moved with his family to
California as a toddler. When he enlisted in the Army at 17, he joined one of
the first U.S. units to fight in Vietnam.

His greatest test came on March
16, 1966, when his unit was sent to reinforce a sister battalion locked in
battle north of Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. His platoon suddenly came under
attack.

Although Spec. 4 Rascon was
ordered to stay back, he raced to the front to try to shield a machine gunner
who had been hit. A bullet pierced Rascon's hip as he pulled the gunner to
cover.

To help another machine gunner
mount a counterattack, Rascon retrieved two belts of ammunition, a machine gun
and a spare machine-gun barrel that had been left on the trail. Minutes later,
when another soldier was threatened by a grenade, Rascon tackled him and lay
across him as the explosive went off.

Bleeding from several wounds,
Rascon found another wounded machine gunner. He began treating him, but when
another grenade landed, he again shielded the gunner. The explosion punctured
Rascon's face, head and neck.

Because
of Rascon's help, the gunner was able to lay down machine-gun fire that forced
the enemy troops to retreat.

The fight left Rascon so gravely
wounded that he was given last rites. Later, because of his injuries, he was
discharged from the Army, but he rejoined as an officer, and in 1972 signed up
for a second Vietnam tour. He also became a citizen.

Members of Rascon's platoon,
thinking his actions at Bien Hoa should have earned him the Medal of Honor,
believed the lieutenant who commanded the unit during the firefight was going
to nominate him for that decoration. But the lieutenant nominated Rascon for a
Silver Star instead.

In 1993, at a reunion, platoon
members learned Rascon never got the medal they thought he deserved. They
gathered testimony from six platoon members and began to push for the Medal of
Honor.

The platoon's petitions were
denied. But the efforts of the platoon members, the Vietnam Veterans of
America, and Rep. Lane Evans, D-Ill., reached Clinton. In May, the Senate
approved a Pentagon recommendation that Rascon be awarded the medal.